


Don't you know that by now?

by bluesey182



Category: The Folk of the Air - Holly Black
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 10:56:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19904596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesey182/pseuds/bluesey182
Summary: They're fighting again until they're not





	Don't you know that by now?

**Author's Note:**

> posted this to tumblr a while ago but I'm finally uploading it to here. follow me @bluesey-182 if you'd like!

It began as it always did.

Raised voices and angry words melted into rushed kisses, a blur of movement before they ended up in his rooms, tangled fingers in hair and exploratory hands, murmured exclamations. But unlike the other times, their hunger subsided into something softer. Slower. Reverent kisses that belonged to people whose souls were meant to be forever entwined left hot marks on their skin. Whispered “Is this okay?”s were asked before Cardan slipped each article of clothing from her body–until Jude was left in nothing but her underwear. 

She was lost in him as he left a trail of kisses down her neck, her chest, her stomach. At the hem of her underwear he paused, slid his fingers along the curve of her hips, gently tugged. “Is this okay?” he murmured.

“Yes,” she whispered.

As Cardan slipped off the last bit of fabric separating them, Jude suddenly felt more exposed than she ever had. She was painfully aware of the fact that they had never gotten this far before, and even more aware of the fact that she didn’t know what she was doing. She wanted to cover herself up. She wanted to keep kissing him. When she looked into his eyes she saw a sort of horrified wonder–like he was looking at a waterfall just before falling over the edge. As he leaned down to reclaim her lips, it became too much for Jude. She placed her hand on the center of his chest and gently pushed him back.

“Jude?” He asked with eyes that gleamed with want and confusion.

Her throat felt very dry. “Tell me you hate me,” she croaked.

For a moment a look passed over Cardan’s face like he was being tortured, before it went carefully blank. He looked down at his hands that only moments before had been holding her and opened his mouth. But no sound came out. After a few beats of silence he confessed, “I cannot.”

“Why?”

Another pause of silence. “I feel a great many things for you, Jude,” he choked, finally looking back into her eyes. “But hate is no longer one of them.”

“Tell me.” Jude felt breathless, close to the edge of falling and never stopping. Her heart beat wildly but still, she wanted… She wanted… 

She wanted him.

Cardan looked nearly devastated. With the same uncharacteristic softness he had been showing her earlier he carefully picked up her right hand and pressed his lips to her palm.

“I feel frustrated because you’re the most headstrong person in any room and you insist on always making me know it.”

He kissed her wrist. “I’m obsessed with you.” Her forearm. “Enchanted.” The crook of her elbow. “Haunted by you.” He continued to kiss his way up her arm, to her neck, her jaw. Saying sweet nothings that made her dizzy, until finally he hovered above her lips.

“I’m in love with you, Jude,” he whispered as if in pain, “Don’t you know that by now?”

Jude was ruined. Not knowing what to say, she tangled her hands in his hair and brought him closer to her until their foreheads were touching. The butterflies in her stomach were creating a storm and her heart felt like a caged bird beating against her ribs. But she knew in that moment that it belonged to him.

“Show me,” she commanded quietly. He gave her that smile that made her insides twist in equal parts hate and desire before kissing his way down her body.

 _Show me_ , she said as he explored her body with his hands. Slowly, he made her come undone, swallowing her sounds of worship like they were the only water left on earth. She shook beneath his touch, said his name like a prayer, and with every moment she could feel him unraveling.

 _Show me_ , she said as he finally fit his hips into hers. 

_Show me_ , she said as he finally came undone.

 _Show me_ , she said as he wrapped her in his arms afterwards and held onto her like she might drift away.

And right before they fell asleep, she finally whispered, “I’m in love with you too.”


End file.
